Loie Hollowell “Mother Tongue”

Feuer/Mesler

[Image: Loie Hollowell "Full Frontal" (in green) (2016) Oil and acrylic medium on linen over panel 48 x 36 in.]

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Feuer/Mesler presents an exhibition of new paintings by Loie Hollowell.

In this body of work, Hollowell creates a duality between figure and landscape using a graphic abstract painting language. Bulbous and geometric forms are at once anus and sun, a curvaceous mound is simultaneously butt and mountain, and a convex line suggests both spread legs and a deep canyon.

The paintings are complexly rendered with varying textures and physical depth. In some areas paint is applied with a sponge, creating a stippled surface that both absorbs and reflects light depending on the position of the viewer. Contrasting the sponged texture is a curly brush stoke. Up close the curls playfully allude to body hair, but from further away they coalesce into fuzzy pixilated space. In this series of paintings, Hollowell has begun to build up the surfaces of her works using various mediums. These subtly built up mounds enhance the painted illusion of form. The combination of illusory and real depth creates an uncanny optical effect.

Hollowell’s work pulls from traditional art historical genres including op art, still life, transcendental, tantric and feminist painting. Her compositions are inspired by Judy Chicago’s hard edge and figurative work, Georgia O’Keefe’s sensual and organic forms, the vibrant colors and bold symbolism of Ghulam Rasool Santosh, and the wispy atmospheres of Agnes Pelton. Like many of these artists, Hollowell’s work is rooted in her desire to think of the body in context with natural elements and abstract composition.

At once physical and referential, Hollowell’s paintings present a layered experience between historical and contemporary painting, actual and perceived space and object and abstraction. Building upon art historical cues, the works create a new visual language that rewards the viewer with nuanced details and innovative painting technique.

Loie Hollowell (b. 1983) received her BA from the University of California Santa Barbara and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She had a solo show at 106 Green and has been included in exhibitions at Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, TX; The Landing, Los Angeles, CA; Massimo De Carlo, London, UK and Paramo, Guadalajara, Mexico.